Radiation ... Confusion and scared

I agree with Lou Ann that everyone is different.  

I have never heard anyone say radiation hurts while it is being given.  The concern is radiation burns on your skin and diahrea.  I would suggest you take probiotics for your digestive track.  I was provided a study of 400 cervical cancer patients, half who were given probiotics and half that were not.  The half that did not take probiotics had a high percentage of women hospitalized with dehydration from diahrea.  The other half who took probiotics had no hospitalization and a low number of 'loose stools".  Brachytherapy does require the use of dialators afterwards and it just becomes part of your new normal.  

You always have the right of refusal for any treatment.  My thought was doing everything I could to beat this beast in to oblivion, and I am happy with my decision.  You have to do what you think is best for you.  

I had 5 weeks of external radiation and 3 brachytherapy. No pain while getting external, but wish I had started probiotics earlier. I had some constipation as well as a little diarea. Brachytherapy was different for me. Many women said they used lidocaine before and so no pain, but I didn't know about that and my doctor didn't use it or suggest it, so I did have a lot of pain with the insertion. Remember all people are different. I had not been having sex for quite sometime so that might have been part of the problem. I will start using the dialaters next week.

Also, I didn't question having radiation myself because I just wanted to do everything I could to survive.

TeddyandBears_Mom said:

Jen, I'm going to assume the

Jen, I'm going to assume the radiation you are scheduled to receive is Brachy Therapy and not external since you said 5 treatments. If I am correct, I can tell you that I finished the same amount the end of January.

I had zero pain from this procedure. And, really no side effects except some tiredness. I am currently doing the dialators every day for two weeks and I'm a bit sore from that but not truly painful. This is needed to stretch the vagina and keep the scar tissue from forming. Very important so that the doctors can do exams.  There is a thread called 'Let's talk about radiation'. It has loads of information from ladies posting their experiences.

The vaginal cuff is the surgery line after they remove all of our lady parts. They say this is the first place a recurrence is the most likely and why they want to use radiation there.

Please ask any and all questions! We are all here to help each other.

Love and Hugs,

Cindi

Cindi, how soon I forgot!  The fatigue really was like nothing I had experienced before.  I remember sitting at my desk thinking "how am I going to move?"  Wow!  Also, please keep in mind that radiation can continue to work for up to 6 weeks after the last treatment.

Give in to the exhaustion and sleep.  Sleep is very restorative.  

Jen, Vaginal Brachytheraphy is only scary becuse it is unknown.  I had VB following major surgery and chemo for endometrial cancer as well.  It is not painful, and I had zero side effects going through it, and since.  I insisted on meeting with my radiologist ahead of time, and was very diligent about checking their credentials.  He was incredibly wonderful about putting my mind at ease, to the point that when he had to go out on family leave just prior to my first appt, I opted to wait for his return rather than be switched to someone else.  My surgeon has done several pelvics since then and says I have no significant scarring and everything looks good in there.  I used a dilator diligently at first but now only have to use it once every couple weeks to keep things open.  Don't worry.  You will be fine.  Good luck, and warm hugs, - Helen